India’s tennis sensation Rohan Bopanna continued his rich vein of form as he managed to reach the US Open men’s doubles final along with his Australian partner Matthew Ebden. The Indo-Aussie duo beat French pair of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut 7-6 (3), 6-2 in a semifinal clash that lasted 1 hour 34 minutes.
The first set was a rather close affair, but the duo held their nerve in the tie-break to move into the second set with an upper hand. From there on, the Indo-Aussie pair dominated completely, while the French pair looked hapless and just went through the motions.
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Playing at the Louis Armstrong Stadium, Rohan Bopanna, 43, achieved the world record of becoming the oldest player to reach a Grand Slam final in the open era. The Indian is 43 years and six months old, precisely. He narrowly surpassed Canadian Daniel Nestor, who had reached the final of a Grand Slam at 43 years and four months.
Meanwhile, this is the second time Bopanna has reached the US Open men’s doubles final, this time after a gap of 13 years. In 2010, he had made it to the finals alongside Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi. So far, the veteran has one Grand Slam win under his name — French Open mixed doubles title in 2017 with Gabriela Dabrowski.
Career till now
Bopanna has had an illustrious career till now, having won 24 titles and has a win-loss record of 482–359 (57.3%) in ATP World Tour and Grand Slam main-draw matches, and in the Davis Cup. Now, Bopanna and Ebden will face the third-seeded pair of Andy Ram/Joe Salisbury in the final of US Open 2023. If he manages to win, this will be his first men’s doubles Grand Slam title, and will become third from the country to do so.
Editors pick
